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ETV's "Take on the South" Asks
"What Is the Most Influential Southern Novel?"

Online Poll Invites Southern Lit Fans to Participate

Program Airs Wednesday, May 13 at 8 p.m.

For Immediate Release
April 24, 2009

Columbia, SC… Frankly, we know that Rhett Butler didn't "give a damn." And thankfully, Atticus Finch did. Celie struggled for freedom in a man's world in "The Color Purple," while Kunta Kinte struggled to pass on his rich cultural heritage while suffering under the bonds of slavery in "Roots."

All of these characters, and their stories, have many things in common, including the fact that they are all set in the South and are part of the well-respected genre of Southern fiction—a genre that has arguably had a more profound effect on our society and culture than any other.

Touching on every topic from history to racial tensions to social class, religion, family, and more, it is no wonder that Southern literature is always asking the reader to examine these sometimes uncomfortable topics. In some instances, it also asks us to re-examine our own feelings as well.

But is there one novel that has done more to shape attitudes, to change our way of thinking, and thus our way of living? Which Southern novel has had been the most influential?

That is the topic of the next episode of "Take on the South," airing on ETV on Wednesday, May 13 at 8 p.m.

Host Dr. Walter Edgar will be joined by two of the premiere scholars of Southern literature as they debate and discuss the influences of novels by authors ranging from Flannery O'Connor to James Dickey to Harper Lee to Zora Neale Hurston, and many more. Guests include:

• Dr. Trudier Harris, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she teaches courses in African American literature and folklore

• Dr. Noel Polk, Professor Emeritus, Mississippi State University, a specialist on the American novel who has edited the novels of William Faulkner for the Library of America and Random House, and a "restored" text of Robert Penn Warren's "All the King's Men" for Harcourt Brace

ETV is asking for fans of Southern literature to add their voices to the mix as well. Visit www.scetv.org/takeonthesouth, and participate in the Take on the South online poll by voting for the novel you feel is the most influential, and letting us know why. Don't see your favorite on the top 20 list? Let us know that, too.

Take on the South DVDs can be purchased by calling 1-800-553-7752 or by visiting the ETV Store at www.etvstore.org.

Sidebar Material:
Please feel free to list the top 20 list below in your publication or on your Web site. It is the same as on our Web site. However, we would like to know what your results are, so if you could let us know where it is posted, we would greatly appreciate it.

• Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner
• All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Cane by Jean Toomer
• Deliverance by James Dickey
• vGone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
• Native Son by Richard Wright
• Roots by Alex Haley
• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy
• The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell
• Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor
• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
• The Clansman by Thomas Dixon, Jr.

How were the top 20 novels selected?

Profs. Polk, Harris and six faculty members from USC's Institute for Southern Studies were asked to submit fifteen Southern novels they considered to be the most influential. These are the 20 novels mentioned the most times.

Funding for the program was provided by the University of South Carolina's Institute for Southern Studies with a grant from the Watson-Brown Foundation.

South Carolina ETV is the state's public educational broadcasting network with 11 television and eight radio transmitters, and a multi-media educational system in more than 2,500 schools, colleges, businesses and government agencies. Using television, radio and the web, SCETV's mission is to enrich lives by educating children, informing and connecting citizens, celebrating our culture and environment and instilling the joy of learning.

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For more information, contact Rob Schaller at (803) 737-6556 or rschaller@scetv.org.